Date:18/07/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/07/18/stories/2002071801840500.htm

Opinion - News Analysis

Occasions not wanting for factionalism

By V. Jayanth

CHENNAI July 17. With less than a month to go for the high profile merger of the Tamil Maanila Congress with the Congress, infighting and factionalism are back in the forefront in the parent party. Every faction leader is indulging in muscle flexing to impress on the All-India Congress Committee his or her `hold' on the party and the TNCC president, E.V.K.S. Elangovan, will do his best to show that there is no alternative to him to lead the State unit, at least for now.

The show-cause notice issued to Vazhapadi Ramamurthy, former Union Minister, for "anti-party activities" may not mean much. Though the former leader of the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress opted to merge his party with the Congress in New Delhi itself by meeting the party leader, Sonia Gandhi, the `homecoming' has not exactly been smooth. Both he and another former TNCC president, Kumari Anandan, continue to run their own organisations, to keep issuing statements.

Party sources say a similar show-cause notice was earlier served on the former TNCC chief, K.V. Thangabalu, but nothing much happened.

The fact that most of the leaders did not show up at the Kamaraj centenary celebrations launched at Virudhunagar on Monday speaks volumes of the `unity of purpose' in the TNCC. The event was considered an ``Elangovan show'' and so most of the former TNCC presidents and faction leaders kept away.

It was probably because the TMC knew too well what would happen to its merger show if it was clubbed with the Kamaraj centenary that the party president, G.K. Vasan, insisted on a separate function in August and suggested that Ms. Gandhi come only for that occasion. Though the various faction leaders of the Congress will be present in view of the AICC president's visit, this is bound to be a TMC show in Madurai.

`Old' Congressmen, who have been with the party all these years, are disgusted with the state of affairs. They feel that there is ``no genuine effort to strengthen the party'' or even ``put it first''. They accuse all factional leaders of jockeying for posts and wonder how the Congress, with such warring groups, could hope to ``restore Kamaraj rule''.

They describe Mr. Elangovan as ``another faction leader'', who also left the party and returned for want of a better alternative. They are afraid that the TMC, after merger, will remain ``yet another group within the TNCC''. They consider it unfortunate that the Congress does not have a single, towering leader who can unite and strengthen the organisation.

``This is the right time to unite and rebuild. The next Assembly elections are due only in 2006. Unless the TNCC starts spreading the message that the Congress is ready to provide an alternative to the Dravidian parties, the people will not take it seriously'', says a former Union Minister, who has kept a low profile for some time now.

He says the high command has not taken Tamil Nadu seriously and is not likely to take it seriously, as elections are due in northern States next year. And then there may be parliamentary elections.

``Where will Tamil Nadu figure in all this? Unless the AICC takes a conscious decision to strengthen the State unit, provide a stable and strong leadership, and discipline all groups, and not to seek an alliance with either the AIADMK or the DMK, there can be no future for the Congress here. Ultimately, there must be some democracy in the party, which means internal elections'', he explains.